Digital photography has grown steadily since its introduction. Social networks and mobile computing devices have further accelerated the growth of photographic data made available to the public. The ability to take and share photographs anytime and anywhere has resulted in the general public consuming more photographic data than ever and relying on these photographs for up to the minute information. However, it is a well-known fact that digital photographs are easily edited and the information contained within a digital photograph may not be entirely trustworthy. Thus, obtaining trustworthy evidence based on digital photographs and other electronic images (also referred to herein interchangeably as “images”) can be challenging due to the use of technology that can alter and compromise the integrity of such images. These and other problems exist with conventional image collection and authentication systems.
Authenticated photos can be used in many situations, particularly where the photo is used as evidence or proof of some fact or set of facts. Various industries deal with technical challenges around remote or virtual underwriting and inspections. Traditionally an inspection required a trusted human inspector to go view a property, business, or asset in person. This is costly and time consuming.
The use of technology has enabled remote or virtual inspections. However, this technical solution has led to other issues. One common issues with using images (photos or video) to facilitate a remote or virtual inspection is that many technologies exists that enable images, their location data and other metadata to be easily altered.
One such example is in the context of insurance claims, various applications and technologies exist that enable an unscrupulous user to engage in metadata manipulation, location spoofing, photo editing & manipulation, capturing photos of other photos and simply using images from the Internet that purport to be images captured by the user. All of these technical problems can adversely impact the integrity of an underwriting or claims process.
These and other technical problems exist across many industries and in many contexts where image data is submitted in lieu of an in-person physical inspection.